More than a Rabbit Hole
by Chaotica
Summary: The well has the amazing ability to transport one back into time along the very part of existance it takes up...but how far back can it take someone? Very short.


A/N: It was a cute little idea I had, don't remember when. I adore this series because of the love/hate theme it has. XD  
  
More than a Rabbit Hole  
  
Kagome dropped her bag into the well before her own descent. She had a nice week long away from school without having to worry about class. The entire building got flooded when several bathrooms were mass-pranked by way of large fireworks. All she HAD to do was a little studying towards the end of the week. Plus she had a new perfume spray she wanted to confuse Inuyasha with.  
As soon as she touched the bottom of the well a familiar tingling rose up her feet to her head and the walls around her seemed to fade. She was so used to this she could place several of the countless spots of light around her.  
Soon the well returned though with minor differences. Less dirt on the left side, the weeds were much more over grown and the light was a great deal brighter. The wood smelled a little fresher than she was used to, maybe a few boards had opened up and revealed the new scent.  
She shouldered her bag and started her way up. "Inuyasha, I'm here, help me up!" She got no response. That was weird, usually the dog-boy was leaning over the side eager to get back to searching for jewel shards.  
Finally she scrambled over the edge of the well nearly out of breath. She dropped the bag off her back and stood up to stretch. It was a little cooler than it had been the last time. Maybe a little too much air from the North had come down over the last few days.  
"Inuyasha? Shippo?" She looked around expecting to see at least one of her traveling companions. But no one seemed to be around. She was about to put the bag back on when shouts reached her from down the hill.  
She left the bag where it lay confident no one would steal it. And if they did she could just make a side trip to get it back, and the copies of her text books she bought a week ago just incase.  
It was a little strange, she could have sworn it was late spring, but most of the trees still had only leaf buds on them. A sudden cry of pain made her run faster.  
There in a small clearing along the road a group of children, large children but still children, were kicking something small and red.  
She thought maybe they were kicking around a ball and had gotten carried away when a foot flailed out from the kicks. They were attacking another child!  
She was without her bow but found a large stick instead.  
"Hey! Cut that out!" She yelled swinging wildly at any head that happened to look up.  
Several of the kids, more like pre-teens now that she got a look at them, covered their heads and howled in pain. The mob scattered but only loosely.  
"So, you wanna try and pick on someone more your size or what?" She asked knocking the closest kid upside his head. That time they ran away screaming about a devil-woman.  
Sure that they had all fled she dropped her stick and turned to the small victim. It looked like he had tried to curl into a ball but hadn't fared well in doing so. His straw hat was still tied to his head but badly damaged. A few bruises were on his exposed arm where his clothes had been ripped.  
"Poor boy." She whispered checking his legs for breaks and rips for cracks. She found none and reached up for his hat to check his face.  
The straw hat practically disintegrated in her fingers, it didn't need to for her to drop it. She'd seen this small boy before, but only in a reflection when he was under a spell. His face was small and round with a tiny cute nose. But the most distinctive marks were his silver hair, unnatural for a boy his age, but also unnatural for his ears to resemble that of a dog.  
"Inuyasha." She pulled away as if the child were too hot to touch. The look of his face and its familiarity was enough to give her a shock, but the cuts and bruises that dotted it pulled at her stronger maternal instinct.  
She picked the small Hanyou up and carrying him back to the well. She settled down next to her bag and tended to the immediate cuts. She knew they were already healing but this would prevent infection, he still had Human blood in him after all.  
Once finished she put all the ointments away and just held him. He did look awfully cute, all helpless and small. Kind of like Shippo actually. The resemblance was uncanny she'd have to remember to poke fun at Inuyasha about that.  
The little boy in her arms stirred wincing in quickly fading pain, but it was still pain.  
"Well hello there." Kagome said smiling down at him.  
He stiffened in her arms not entirely conscious yet.  
"You don't move to fast now, you might be half healed already but you're still pretty beat up there." She said loosening her hold on him to let him now she wasn't holding him against his will.  
Regardless of her words her rolled out of her lap and scuttled backwards almost on all fours. He stopped a few feet away to look at her. "Who are you?"  
She was about to say her name but stopped. This was the past-past, Inuyasha really shouldn't know her name in the past-future. "My name is Yumi." (Yes, I got that from Chobits, lemme alone.)  
"Yumi huh?" He sniffed at her. She was very used to it by now though. "You smell weird."  
She was taken aback by this. She knew her Inuyasha was pretty blunt, but this? At first she didn't quite understand what he was talking about then remembered the new perfume. "Oh that." She reached into her bag for the purple bottle. "It's called 'Dragons Blossom'." She said putting a little on her finger.  
The young Hanyou was curious enough to get into arms length and she dotted his nose.  
He sort of went cross-eyed and fell back on his little rump wiping at his nose and sneezing.  
"Oops." She couldn't help but giggle. "Too much?"  
He shot her an annoyed look, she could almost see the Inuyasha she knew.  
"Well my little friend, how do you feel? Those kids looked like they were really going at you." She leaned forward on her knees.  
He glanced away and got a strange look on his face. "I'm fine. They didn't do nothin'."  
She seemed amused. "You know, I have a friend like you." She said with a knowing look.  
"Y-you do?" He asked. He reached up on his head and seemed panicked when he couldn't find his hat there.  
"Oh, don't worry, he's a LOT like you. He's a Hanyou too. Though he's not as cute as you are."  
That got him; he blushed and looked as if he was trying to disappear into the air.  
"Now don't be like that. I bet you'll grow up to be a very handsome man." She could feel a little blush creeping over her face, but really, this wasn't HER Inuyasha yet, it was safe.  
"I ain't going to be a man."  
Well that was a little unexpected. She looked at him closely. This boy was a little older than the reflection she saw. Had this been how old he was when his mother had died?  
"Then you'll grow up into a very fine Hanyou."   
She watched his face fall very still at this comment. All of a sudden, he started to cry. It started as a shudder with his eyes closed, then he collapsed into a torrent of sobs.  
"Now, don't cry." She crawled over and a put a hand on his back.  
"She's gone. That's why they attacked me." His voice had been a little small before, she barely caught this at all. "I thought I was strong enough." He sniffed into his sleeve.  
"Don't worry Inuyasha, it'll be okay."  
He looked up at her confused. He didn't recall giving this Human his name. He didn't have much time to respond when she pulled him back into her lap. He tried to struggle, but, it was nice, like his mother.  
"You're going to survive this." She said stroking his head comfortingly. "It hurts now, and it'll hurt for a long time, but you'll always remember her. And in the future, you'll find a nice girl who will love you just as much as she did." For a moment she wondered how much to say. But she felt the words sort of tumble out of her as if they were not under control.  
"You'll go through a lot of hard times, but they'll make you strong. You just have to remember." She leaned down to his face, feeling very serious for some reason. His amber eyes were wide, almost in awe. "You must remember to follow the soul of what you seek, the memory is just that, a memory. Do you understand?"  
He blinked, then nodded.  
She wasn't sure if he did, it didn't seem like he did later on.  
She let the boy get up and straightened his hair a little. "Now, you go home, those boys won't come after you for a little while yet. I gave them a few good knocks of my own." She patted his head as she stood up. "Just remember what I said Inuyasha!"  
She hauled up her bag and was about to jump back into the well.  
"Wait!" It was the first response she'd gotten for a while.  
She looked back at him questioningly.  
"How did you know my name?" He asked taking a step forward.  
She smiled. "I told you I had a Hanyou friend didn't I?" She asked giving a little wave before she disappeared over the edge.  
He ran to the new well and looked down. Nothing was there, just maybe the faint scent of that girl. He kicked at the ground, maybe she'd been a spirit, or an imp. He kicked the ground and headed back towards the small village he'd taken refuge in. Soon he would leave for somewhere with less people, though he did wonder how much of what that girl said was going to come true.  
***  
Kagome landed at the bottom of the well and looked around. The 'new-wood' smell was gone, but a lot of sunlight still came down. Maybe she was in the right past this time.  
"Hey! What's taking you so long down there?" A crass voice called down.  
She looked up and smiled. "Inuyasha!" She'd recognize that hair anywhere.  
"Well, come on, we don't have all day you know, you're late as it is!"  
"Kagome! Hurry! We're going to eat soon!" Shippo's little head poked over the edge of the well and waved down.  
Inuyasha met her half way up the well side and took her weight and the bags' as well to carry her out. But he suddenly stopped there at the edge with her sitting on it to catch her breath.  
She gasped surprised when he nosed at her sniffing deeply.  
"Hey! What are you doing?" She squealed smacking him away. "Sit!"  
He hit the ground with the usual amazing force. As soon as he pulled his face from the dirt, he said two words. "Dragons Blossom."  
She blushed. So he did remember. She watched him sit up with Shippo giving him a confused look.  
"Yes. Dragons Blossom. It's a new scent I got." She said pulling out the small purple bottle again and putting a little on a finger. Before Inuyasha knew what happened he had a liberal amount of the scent on his nose.   
He sneezed violently and stared at her in surprise. "You."  
She picked up her bag and winked at him. "C'mon Shippo, you said food was almost ready?" She walked away from the near catatonic Hanyou.  
She looked back in time to see Inuyasha get up and blink at her in that same awed way. It wouldn't take long for him to become indignant again. But until then it was a priceless thing. 


End file.
